Media Finds Out Patients Will Lose Doctors, Plans, Hospitals Because of Obamacare

RUSH: AP has this nonsensical stupid, ill-informed, misinformed, ignorant story about my book award, and look at this one. Look at this headline: "Consumers Losing Doctors With New Insurance Plans." They're shocked. Folks, you and me, we're not mainstream. No, no, no. They are mainstream. They've got a story today, they can't believe. My book is at the top of the best-seller lists, despite no attention from the mainstream. They can't understand it. Those same people who think they're among the best and brightest, they're just now figuring out that you don't get to keep your doctor with Obamacare.

This is no small thing. Obama has lied about this for three years, and they have swallowed every lie. And even when Obama has been shown to have been lying and when the administration sort of tacitly admitted it and had to delay the implementation of Obamacare so that, guess what, after you'd be canceled, your health insurance had been canceled, you like your doctor, you lost that, then, after all hell broke loose, Obama does what? Comes back and says (paraphrasing), "You know what, if you like your plan, I'm gonna let you keep it. I am going to allow you to keep it for one more year." And they even missed that.

"Some consumers who bought insurance under President Barack Obama's health care law are experiencing buyer's remorse after realizing that their longtime doctors aren't accepting the new plans." See how this is shaping? Now your doctor is the bad guy. But it's still, it's still a shock. They're in the news business. "Before the law took effect, experts warned that narrow networks could impact patients' access to care, especially in cheaper plans." Yeah, these were warnings the AP studiously refused to report, by the way.

"But with insurance cards now in hand, consumers are finding their access limited across all price ranges -- sometimes even after they were told their plan would include their current doctor." Yeah, by Obama! They don't say that. The story is not about how Obama lied. The story is not about how Obama misled them. No. The AP just figured out that some people aren't gonna be able to keep their doctors. (gasping) You've known this for how many -- well, years now, not just months.

"Many of these state the exchanges don't even list providers and facilities." How many of you have known your doctor and/or hospital may not be in the network you're assigned, and the AP doesn't know this? But they're on the case of my winning a children's book award, and they're gonna get to the bottom of that if it's the last thing they ever do. But they had no idea that you could lose your doctor. "Consumers losing doctors with new insurance plans," oh, no, and they went and talked to a consumer to whom this happened. That's right.

Michelle Pool is one of those customers. Before enrolling in a new health plan on California's exchange, Michelle Pool checked "whether her longtime primary care doctor was covered. Pool, a 60-year-old diabetic who has had back surgery and a hip replacement, purchased the plan only to find that the insurer was mistaken. Pool’s $352 a month gold plan through Covered California’s exchange was cheaper than what she’d paid under her husband’s insurance and seemed like a good deal because of her numerous pre-existing conditions. But after her insurance card came in the mail, the Vista, California resident learned her doctor wasn’t taking her new insurance."

He's not in the network. He opted out 'cause he wants to get paid. Michelle Pool said, "It’s not fun when you’ve had a doctor for years and years that you can confide in and he knows you. I’m extremely discouraged. I’m stuck." Well, try being a patient getting lifesaving cancer treatment only to find you don't get to keep your doctor. (gasping) Or you don't even get to keep your insurance. And AP is just figuring this out.

Reuters: "California Consumers Say Duped by Blue Shield's Limited Obamacare Plans -- Consumers who purchased new health plans from Blue Shield of California have sued the insurer, claiming they were misled into thinking the insurance would cover their desired doctors and hospitals." Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. Who told 'em that? Wasn't it the president of the United States who told everybody that they get to keep their doctor and their insurance plan?

So here's AP blaming it on the doctors. Here's Reuters blaming it on insurance companies. It was Obama who lied, at last count, 23 different times, prominently, nationally. Who knows how many local appearances where he may have said this. Twenty-three prominent lies, bold-faced, over two years, maybe three.

"In their complaint filed in California state court on Wednesday, San Francisco residents John Harrington and Alex Talon accused Blue Shield of misrepresenting that their plans, sold on California's health exchange, would cover the full provider network advertised on the company's website. They sued on behalf of a class of people who had purchased so-called 'preferred provider organization' plans from the insurer only to realize that the doctor and hospital networks for their plans were limited."

I cannot express the degree to which I'm frustrated. These people have invested in the wrong president. They've invested in the wrong party, and they've invested in the wrong media. Every political institution they rely on has failed them, has lied to them or has not told them the truth. If these people happened to be members of this audience they would have known what was in store for them. The problem is, had they been listening the day this kind of information was imparted to them, they probably would not have believed it. Because Obama, the president, was telling them the opposite.

But look, the Democrat Party, political institution, fails 'em. The media they rely on doesn't tell 'em the truth about anything and leaves half or more of real news out of coverage every day. And then, of course, the president they invest in. It's just so unnecessary.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: John in Evansville, Indiana, great to have you, sir. Welcome to Open Line Friday.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. It's an honor to talk to you.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: Hey, I just want to tell you about how the Affordable Care Act has affected my family and my immediate family. I happen to be an identical twin brother, and he's more liberal and I'm more conservative, and we both happen to be Millennials. Now, he's kind of backed the Affordable Care Act since it was brought up as an idea. And I always thought it was not really that great of an idea, I've never liked the idea of socialized medicine, but he's backed it pretty much the whole way. They eventually signed up for Obamacare through the website and just found out a couple weeks ago that our doctor, who we've been going to for in excess of 10 years is no longer an option for him. He can't go there anymore.

RUSH: 'Cause he's not in the network.

CALLER: Yeah, he's not in the network. Right.

RUSH: Right. Okay, now, you know what, I gotta hold you on there John, I got a break. I misread the clock. I thought I had more time than I do. Can you hold on for just a couple more minutes?

CALLER: Yeah, sure.

RUSH: Yeah, I knew he could. I knew.

We'll be right back.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We're back with John in Evansville, Indiana. He has an identical twin brother. He, John the caller, is for the most part conservative, twin brother is a commie SOB, and you both had the same health care plan, and you left off there. I had to stop you there. Except that he found that his doctor, your doctor, you can't use him 'cause he's not in your network, after Obamacare, went to exchange and signed up. That's where you left off.

CALLER: That's right. Well, I'd like to point out he's not necessarily a commie SOB. He's a smart guy. We come from the same genes obviously. I consider myself intelligent, so I should probably consider him intelligent as well, so --

RUSH: Well, I was being comical, commie SOB is a liberal, right? I mean, you're conservative; he's more liberal than you are. There's no degree of liberal. If you're liberal, you're all-in.

CALLER: Gotcha. You know, where I left off was I guess that our doctor, you know, we've been going to him for -- our whole entire family, me, him, my other brother, my parents, my grandparents, over 10 years now, we all really like him, he likes our doctor and just found out a couple weeks ago that the doctor is not in the network. He signed up for Obamacare and our doctor is not in his network anymore so now he doesn't have a doctor.

RUSH: And my guess is that as far as your brother's concerned this has nothing to do with Obama. It's not Obama's fault, not Obamacare's fault that he lost his doctor, it's not Obama. It's no big deal, okay, I gotta find a new doctor. Obama, it's no big deal, right?

CALLER: I'd say so 'cause, you know, let's face it, they've been feeding lies across a lot of it, particularly the president himself has been lying in front of the American people for a long time --

RUSH: You ever ask yourself -- and I'm serious. Nothing personal, this. I'm just genuinely curious. You recognize that they've just been telling lies left and right to the American people. Do you ever wonder why you don't believe them and your brother does?

CALLER: Right. And actually that's -- I do know that they have watched MSNBC, which I try to stay away from --

RUSH: Well, that's all you need to say.

CALLER: (laughing).

RUSH: It is. It is.

CALLER: And Colbert Report and Daily Show, those are funny shows, I admit, I watch them and I laugh, but it's not a place to get your news, right?

RUSH: But not to him, not to a lot of people. That is the real news. The fake news is the real news. Well, what are you gonna do? Is it just you or just him that lost the doctor? Did you have the same health care plan yourself?

CALLER: Well, I've got insurance through my company, so, as far as I know I'll have my insurance for a while, at least until the employer mandate comes in. But he didn't, so he had to sign up through the exchanges --

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: -- and since he was in for the Affordable Care Act and I'm not necessarily yet --

RUSH: Well, there you go. I'm sure he thinks, you know, everybody involved, they're just trying to help people. They're just trying to sign up the uninsured. They're trying to make sure everybody has health coverage. At least they're trying. At least they care. At least they're trying to do something. The Republicans, they don't care. All they do is run people down all the time. They don't really care about people. And okay, so I lost my doctor. Obama's trying.

That's generally how it goes. And it's just the way it is. Once the believability and loyalty have been established, it's tough to snap 'em. If you believe all this, you're right about the media. If the media tells you this is biggest hearted guy, compassion, loves people, and you buy that, and it's gonna take a lot of evidence, not one or two examples of it, to cause you to question it. It's powerful thing. The daily inculcation of propaganda, and it's more than an inculcation. It's a bombardment. Depending on how much media you expose yourself to, it is a literal bombardment of propaganda every day, and then it adds up, the days become months and they become years.

After awhile, "I saw it on TV, it must be true." Becomes most people's source authority. "I saw it on TV. It happened. He said it on TV. I believe it. I saw it or I read it in the New York Times. Has to be true." And they're able to get there by not teaching critical thinking. It's taken 'em a long time to get here, but they have made it, and it's gonna take a concerted effort and long time to unwind it. I don't think one election is gonna do the trick. But, John, I appreciate the call.